http://www.vanguard.edu/gcwj/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-05-14-01.45.46.jpg24483696Global Center for Women and Justicehttp://2pqn-5bjp.accessdomain.com/about/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/logo-300x137.pngGlobal Center for Women and Justice2016-06-09 16:49:582016-06-10 15:22:24Romania May 2016

Join us on March 23 to celebrate Women’s History Month as we listen to the story of Cydelia “Cindy” Miranda, a Latina’s woman’s courage and compassion to make a difference in her community. While she was at USC, she worked at the Joint Educational Project, a service-learning program, in which she negotiated with professors for class involvement and recruited fellow students to volunteer as tutors and mentors to underprivileged elementary students. She also offered support to women and children at an abuse shelter in South Central Los Angeles, CA. This began her experience working with and in a community of the marginalized. Cydelia is the founder of She Celebrations, an English women’s ministry for the Southern Pacific District Region 6, which develops and equips women to be ’21st century women, living a Proverbs 31 life’.

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Janell Koide is a senior Psychology major at Vanguard University. She became a Women’s Studies Minor when she joined the 2014 Summer Study Abroad course in Medellin, Colombia, and interns in the GCWJ offices.

As a student, the thought of this injustice angers me, and its growing prevalence in the United States brings heaviness to my heart. The International Labour Organization states that it is difficult to accurately measure the magnitude of human trafficking worldwide, but the minimum begins at 20 million. That’s 20 million fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, daughters, and sons “victimized by forced labor and sex trafficking worldwide,” and the United States is not exempt (Federal Strategic Action Plan).

So what do we as students do upon hearing this tragic news? We can learn more about the issue. We must educate ourselves so that we may be able to effectively offer our services to help cure this disease at its core, rather than hastily provide short-term band-aid solutions. Removing the victim is only a step in the process. Aiding the survivor in their recovery and introduction to a life free of exploitation is just as important. It is a complex, multifaceted issue that may overwhelm you with wonders of “What can I do?”

This year, Vanguard University’s Global Center for Women and Justice welcomes experts on the issue for the 2015 Ensure Justice Conference on March 6-7. The theme of the conference this year is Coordination, Collaboration, Capacity, and Compassion: What’s your role in the plan?, based on the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States. The purpose of the Plan is to provide government and community agencies with tangible steps to provide services to victims of human trafficking in the United States, which “includes steps to create a victim services network that is comprehensive, trauma-informed, and responsive to the needs of all victims” (Federal Strategic Action Plan).

So, why should students join Ensure Justice this year?

Meet and Network with leaders and members of organizations combatting human trafficking – Ensure Justice provides students one-on-one opportunities to connect with leaders fighting this issue locally, nationally, and globally.

Fulfill the requirement for Women’s Studies Minor – The Women’s Studies minor at Vanguard offers us as students a chance to learn from professionals in the community – professionals who will be our supervisors, mentors, and colleagues when we leave VU.

Get a unit – Register for the 1 unit course! One weekend commitment with some pre- and post-conference reading and assignments.

Find YOUR place in the fight to end human trafficking – This conference gives us a chance to see what is going on in the community, and where our skills and passions can be used. What does it mean to counsel victims or work in law enforcement? What do human trafficking ministries look like? The conference offers the chance to discover what the right place is for each of us.

WRAP Week is intended to educate the public about the extent of our society’s pornography problem. WRAP also creates a unique opportunity to raise the issue of pornography within the Church and to call Christians to renewed lives of sexual purity and freedom.

Multi-Disciplinary Track aims to support children at high-risk of exploitation.

Stemming from our special Frontline Summit event in November 2013, we are offering a special pre-conference track for our friends from the Frontline Summit and their colleagues working in education, law enforcement, probation, social work, and other professional fields as they work to support children at high-risk of exploitation.

This special track will be offered Friday March 7, 2014 from 8:30 am – 1:00 pm. It is open to all professionals focused on working with children at high-risk of exploitation and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

This event is FREE, but registration is required. Lunch will be provided.

On the registration page, please choose under “Rates” the option: Building Multi-Disciplinary Teams, $0

Multi-Disciplinary Track Overview

Session 1 – Building Multi-Disciplinary Teams – Breaking Down Silos

How do we build the best multi-disciplinary teams in order to prevent and intervene for high-risk children? Based on the findings from the Frontline Summit, this session features a panel of experts who work on multi-disciplinary teams. They will share about their experiences, best practices, and steps to take in order to build the best collaborative teams for your area.

Session 2 – Trauma-informed Care

What is trauma-informed care and why is it important for all disciplines to understand the effects of trauma on CSEC victims? The panel will discuss the cross-discipline impact for those serving high-risk youth.

Session 3 – Coordinating a Victim-Center Response

Based on the Federal Strategic Action Plan, a panel of experts will discuss what it means to align efforts, improve understanding, and expand access to services in order to improve outcomes for survivors and high-risk children.

The Global Center for Women and Justice was a finalist in the Education category for COAST Magazine’s Coast Community Awards!

On Monday, February 3, Director Sandra Morgan attended the award ceremony at AnQi Bistro at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA. One of four finalists, GCWJ sat along side The Dodge School of Film & Media Arts at Chapman University, The Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at UCI, and Soka University Performing Arts Center at Soka University of America. Other award categories included Business, City Projects, Environment, and Nonprofit. Vanguard University President Mike Beals, his wife Faith, and Vice President of University Advancement Kelly Kanniwischer joined Sandie at the awards ceremony.

To celebrate our 10th Anniversary, we will share monthly Alumni Stories – insight from Alumni Women’s Studies minors, Live2Free club members, and GCWJ interns over the last 10 years.

I eventually interned in the Center during my senior year and can not count the ways that experience has influenced me and where I’ve been since graduation. Through my time with the Center in undergrad and working there after, I developed a new lens to see the world through. One with God’s eyes for His children, where He’s larger than the labels the world puts on us and He deeply loves everyone of His children; male and female, He loves us all! The spiritual aspects of the program in pair with a seeking of justice is truly what I think God is calling us to when He calls us to rebuild and restore our cities.What really set apart my time at Vanguard was the growing opportunities, mentorship, and spiritual transformation I experienced because of the Global Center for Women & Justice and the Women’s Studies minor. After my first sociology class, I just knew I had to be a Women’s Studies minor! The passion and excitement for the content we learned in and outside of the classroom was contagious, and it ignited a desire in me that I did not know I had – to seek justice.

From the first Women’s Studies conference I attended, God started working on my heart to humbly seek Him and discover it means to seek justice and love mercy. So nearly ten years since that conference, I thank God for the Center and the untold number of lives it’s changed. I can’t wait to see how God continues to grow and bless the Center.

To celebrate our 10th Anniversary, we will share monthly Alumni Stories – insight from Alumni Women’s Studies minors, Live2Free club members, and GCWJ interns over the last 10 years.

I was a student at Vanguard from 1995-1999. While the Women’s Studies program was still a dream during those years, I was privileged to be a part of the discourse that would lead to the development of the program and a pilot student in several classes that would be considered for the minor. We also hosted the first International Women’s Human Rights Conference in the Spring of 1999. It was here where I first was exposed to information on the Taliban and all of the horrific ways women were being treated by this radical group. I remember thinking…why aren’t we doing something about this? Who knew just a handful of years later 9/11 would be the catalyst for taking them out and opening doors for women (to an extent).
I also was able to serve as a student host to a visiting professor from Columbia University who as a muslim woman helped educate me in ways no classroom had ever done.

I also think of professors like Elizabeth Leonard, Kelly Walter Carney, Sheri Benvenuti, Nancy Heidebrecht, and Mary Wilson who played such an influential role in my upbringing as a woman who was confident to call herself a feminist and know what that meant. Across the spectrum of my education, it was their example not only to me, but across the campus that made all of the difference in how women and women’s issues were perceived. It is one thing to be taught. It is another thing to see it lived out. We saw.

My dissertation and the scholarly journey I am on are all linked back to VUSC and the people who influenced my time there. The development of the women’s studies program and now what it has become is more than I could have imagined. I hope to see other AG colleges follow suit. I am so grateful that I was able to play a role in this moment. I may not officially possess the minor, but I know that Women in the Bible, Women in Ministry, Sociology of Women, Women’s US History, Early Women Writers, and so many more influenced my life and are still paying dividends.

I celebrate with you, from afar. I am so proud of Vanguard and the vision to inspire men and women on these important topics. Many blessings and well wishes for 10s of more years to come! Happy Birthday, GCWJ!

To celebrate our 10th Anniversary, we will share monthly Alumni Stories – insight from Alumni Women’s Studies minors, Live2Free club members, and GCWJ interns over the last 10 years.

In August 2003, I packed up and moved from Colorado to California to attend Vanguard University. After taking Intro to Sociology with Dr. Elizabeth Leonard, I discovered the Women’s Studies minor. I loved the idea that I could engage with topics like women’s rights, violence against women, and feminism in a Christian environment, providing a space where I could go much deeper than the surface level pro/con opinions. I took as many courses as I could on the list of interdisciplinary WMST minor electives, and after each course, my passion for engaging in women’s issues continued to grow. Through attending the Center’s annual conferences and on-campus events, I was introduced to many community professionals who used their academic, non-profit, and private sector careers to make a difference for women and children across the world. Participating in the Women’s Studies program at Vanguard University was a choice that impacted my academic and career path, as I pursued graduate education and spent many years working in the non-profit sector. Now, as the Coordinator for GCWJ, I still have the same passion to enable women and students to engage with and learn how they can get involved with issues that are important in both our community and worldwide.

Though the Women’s Studies minor was only in its infancy when I was a student, it provided a foundation for me to understand the history behind the fight for women’s equal rights, as well as the challenges women still encounter today. As the Women’s Studies program continues to grow, it still offers students great opportunities to discover their passions, grow in their faith, and follow the Center’s motto – Study the Issues. Be a Voice. Make a Difference.

http://2pqn-5bjp.accessdomain.com/about/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/logo-300x137.png00blueoxygenhttp://2pqn-5bjp.accessdomain.com/about/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/logo-300x137.pngblueoxygen2013-09-09 11:28:022013-09-09 11:28:02Alumni Stories: The Early Years